


protected at last

by MiniNephthys



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Parental Abuse, Creepy Fluff, Don’t copy to another site, Gen, POV Second Person, Spoilers, the collector would call it fluff but they are not a reliable source, without my permission anyway. this means you ffm owner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 08:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17443424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: You have endless love and endless jars.





	protected at last

When Father threw you away, he didn’t try very hard to seal you up.

Maybe he just didn’t want to look at you again, a failed version of a guard to remain by his side, and didn’t care so much whether you left your tower or not. Maybe he was too busy making someone better than you to seal you properly. You’ve never understood Father, only knowing this: he didn’t love you, and he threw you away.

But you are a creature of Void, and no door will keep you trapped. As far as you’re concerned, the lock is only there to keep everything else out.

The first, the very first, was a grub. A small, defenseless creature just outside the City of Tears. You imagine this precious child being taken by the infection and shudder.

You are not Void enough to stop the light completely, nor enough to please your Father. But there is something you can do.

You snatch the grub up when no one is looking. It squeals in terror, and not even your soothing murmurs can get it to calm, or to stop wriggling in your grasp. But you manage. Your Father made you good at holding onto things, even though he intended them to be weapons.

You have a jar.

It is cruel, you know. You apologize as you drop the grub into the jar and seal the lid with a bit of the voidstuff that comes easily to you. The Light will not reach the grub in there. Neither will age or ordinary sickness, and no bug will cause them harm. It will be perfectly safe.

You collect more bugs. Most often grubs, but some small creatures that have already fallen prey to the Infection. They deserve better than to be struck down at the end of someone’s nail. It wasn’t their choice to be consumed by the Light. You will keep them from harm and keep them from harming others.

You cannot hold them all in your tower. You are Void, but they are not, and they take up physical space. The easiest ones to move to hidden places across the kingdom are the grubs - even if someone finds them and destroys their jars, they would be more inclined to be merciful than with the other bugs.

Still, moving out each and every one is painful. You love them so.

The first time you find one of your siblings, they are just outside the Abyss. Their mask is cracked in places, and they move slowly, sometimes dragging themself forward by a nail.

You ask them who they are. They have no answer, remaining silent. You guess, instead, until they nod.

A child of the Pale King. No voice to speak, no mind to think. Failed to meet Father’s expectations and thrown away like so much garbage. He will not love them.

You love them. You love your sibling on sight. You tell them this, and the surprise shows even through the broken mask.

It makes it easy to snatch them up.

You seal their jar extra tightly. No one will ever cause them harm. Father will never come to find them and destroy them for being failures in His eyes. These are your promises as they knock on the glass walls. You love them and you will keep them safe.

You are the older sibling. You will take care of your younger siblings. You will love the small, the helpless, all that your Father dismisses as useless.

You will keep them safe in your tower of love, the kindest family they will know.


End file.
